Six-year-old boy from Mawsley recycles 80kg of inflatables

A six-year-old boy from Mawsley has recycled 80kg of inflatables after he organised a collection around the village.

Dominic Lawler, a year two pupil at Mawsley Primary School, started his recycling efforts when his family discovered their paddling pool was broken and would have to be thrown away.

The young environmentalist said: "If you don't recycle then all of your rubbish just ends up in the ocean and the animals get hurt."

His mum, Joanne Lawler, said: "We were sorting out our old paddling pool and noticed one was broken and Dominic asked if it could be recycled."

When Joanne told Dominic it would probably have to go in the bin, the determined six-year-old asked if he could look online to see if it could be recycled.

Joanne said: "He's very big on recycling, he's been learning about it in school.

"He did some searching on the internet and found a blog that mentioned a company that took in old inflatables."

The company was Wyatt and Jack on the Isle of Wight, who make bags from inflatables donated through their Inflatables Amnesty.

Joanne said: "I emailed them and they said they only accept 20kg boxes of inflatables."

Dominic's one paddling pool was not enough, so he made posters to put up around the village appealing for inflatables.

He put a box outside his home for people to drop off their old inflatables and in the end he had five boxes to send to Wyatt and Jack, weighing a massive 80kg.

Wyatt and Jack posted on their Instagram account and said Dominic's donation was "amazing". The company said: "Around 80kg of broken inflatables on their way to us as I type! That's amazing on it's own but check this out, these have all been lovingly collected by Dominic, who has spent ages making posters, created an inflatable amnesty drop off point outside his home and he is six-years-old!

"Thank you Dominic and mummy Joanne Lawler for allowing us to share Dominic's legendary effort. You must be very proud."

To recognise his efforts, Mawsley Primary School awarded Dominic a gold star. He said: "A gold award is a sticker. I've inspired other people to do it too, some of my mummy's friends have done it."

Dominic's award was given to him at home, as he is still not back at school. Joanne said: "The deputy headteacher came round to give it to him. It's really nice of the school to get involved."

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